Sudan has cut military ties with North Korea, according to a press release from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry published on Tuesday.

During a visit to Seoul, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said there was no longer any military or diplomatic cooperation with the DPRK.

“Minister Ghandour mentioned that Sudan has completely cut off its military cooperation with North Korea, has no North Korean diplomatic missions in the country as well as no diplomatic missions of its own in the North, and has no plans for high-level exchanges,” an unofficial translation on the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs website reads.

Ghandour also criticized the North’s continued nuclear tests and called for intensifying international pressure on the country.

Sudan is the latest African country to publicly disavow ties with North Korea, after a diplomatic campaign led by South Korean President Park Geun-hye in the wake of the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests in early 2016.

Both Uganda and Namibia said they would implement UN resolutions earlier this year, claiming they would curtail sanctions breaking activities and military contracts with the North.

“It makes sense for Seoul to give countries a clear choice by demonstrating to benefits of relations with Seoul, and the costs of doing business with Pyongyang,” Daniel Pinkston a North Korea watcher at Troy University told NK News.

“And those costs should be clear for as long as North Korea continues with its current policy orientation.”

The Sudanese foreign minister added the country is also fully compliant with UN resolutions, though the administration has yet to file any reports detailing its UN sanctions implementation.

Sudan’s military cooperation with North Korea came to light in 2011, when a WikiLeaks cable revealed U.S. concerns over a weapon deal between the two countries.

The Sudanese government had attempted to buy North Korean medium-range ballistic missiles, short-range missiles, and anti-tank missiles, the cable revealed.

“Given the serious implications of cooperation with North Korea in the procurement of missiles or missile-related technology, we strongly urge Sudan not to engage in such missile activity with North Korea,” it reads.

The North Korean government has not let Seoul’s diplomatic push go unanswered. One of the North’s top diplomats Ri Su Yong completed his own two-week tour of Africa in August.

According to the KCNA Watch data tool, DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho also met with his Sudanese counterpart in September at the 17^th Non-Aligned Movement summit hosted by Venezuela.

“Discussed at the talks were issues of developing bilateral relations between the DPRK and those countries and the issues of mutual support and cooperation in the international arena,” an article from the Korean Central News Agency reads.

Featured Image: by chadocarroll on 2015-09-04 17:05:41